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Monday, August 25, 2008

A-OK

The dining with good people continues. Tonight I had the pleasure of catching up with BPLJ, Pescado, and B-Dawg -- three of my favorite people from my old firm -- at the very yummy AOC. As much as I love the food at AOC, I love these guys even more. They were my big brothers at work who made me laugh constantly and took really good care of me when I was down.

The olive tapenade for the warm fresh bread was great. Pescado stuck his stub of a finger into the shot. Thanks.We started with market lettuces, local walnuts, and golden raisins ($9). Good salad.The boys let me have two of the roasted dates, parmesan, and bacon ($6) because they are my favorite. (Does "they" mean "the boys" or "the dates"? Works either way!) Too bad this picture looks like I took it during an earthquake. I was probably laughing and shaking like a silly person when I took it.Five cheeses ($25). Goddamn, cheese is expensive.Prosciutto di parma ($11) with...butter. Wow. Butter with ham. Rich.Next up was the soft shell crab with spicy pork and peanut sauce ($16), which was light and crunchy. I could've eaten three by myself.True to his name, Pescado ordered seafood, albeit not fish. The guys enjoyed the clams with garlic and amontillado sherry ($15), as I'm not a huge bivalve fan.I'm a shellfish fan, though. Loved the gnocchi with lobster, pancetta, and truffle butter ($17).Then the real meat started coming out.

Grilled skirt steak with Roquefort butter ($15). Yes, it was good.Pork belly, purslane, tomatillos, and corn salsa ($15). Yes, this was good, too.Lamb kebab thingies? Pork on sticks? I don't even remember. All I know is that we chowed before I took a picture. This is what happens when you are cackling hysterically at BPLJ's rather inappropriate stories.I made sure to snap all the desserts before we destroyed them.

Rose macaron ice cream sandwich with raspberries and pistachios ($10). Quite lovely and fancy, but the ice cream sandwiches I had at Milk on Saturday were superior. And more affordable. Crème fraîche panna cotta with blackberries and French butter cookies ($9). Tasty, but I didn't think it was anything special. Pescado loved it, so he ate most of it. I snagged a butter cookie.Chocolate-hazelnut dacquoise with gianduja mousse and salted caramel ice cream ($10). Can I pronounce the italicized words correctly? No. But I can tell you that they are essentially a fancy way of saying "layers of yumminess that make the Monkey very happy."It was so fun seeing these guys. Since leaving the firm and coming to the CIA, I've discovered that I do a lot more entertaining than being entertained at work. I still laugh a lot, but it's different. I'm not complaining. As you know, I like being the source of amusement.

But, when I am with people who are muchfunnier than I am, I just get to sit back, relax, and laugh my ass off.

17 comments:

i loooove aoc! you reminded me that i never blogged my (march!) birthday dinner at AOC. we ordered a lot of the same things. ;-) the dacquoise was divine; i remember it being like a ferrero rocher cake.

Just kidding...It's Brandon, from Lisa's email account. That was a lot of fun. We definitely will do it again. We just need to wait a couple more weeks so Brian can get another story of "excessive touching of himself," and Fisher can shower.